Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend

I zipped through a fun little anthology yesterday.

The Basics: Pink Ice by Susanna Carr, an anthology of four-interconnected stories.

The Plot: The Graham sisters are at a celebrity auction when middle sister, Sabrina, spies a pair of breathtaking pink diamond earrings. She has to have them, but naturally they are way out of her price range. So she convinces older sister, Lindsay, and younger sister, Nicole, to fork over some cash and they agree to share the earrings. All three woman are hoping that owning something so beautiful will spice up their otherwise ordinary existences.

Sabrina starts "borrowing" designer gowns from the dress shop where she works and takes to crashing society parties - where she meets a man looking to take down a notorious jewel thief. Lindsay takes the earrings to Hawaii, where she promptly falls into bed with a man desperate to get his hands on the diamonds. Nicole is hoping the earrings will set off sparks with the man she's working closely with on a museum exhibit of royal jewels. And last, but not least, the fourth story is about a lady thief desperate to get her hands on the diamonds while working a catering job at a house party Lindsay is throwing. A handsome former detective turned private eye throws a wrench in the works though.

The Good: Pretty much all of it. This is a well-done collection with all the stories linking together. For instance, there's a loose thread in Sabrina's story that gets tied up during Lindsay's. And the edition of the fourth story about the thief was genius. While it's not what I would call a typical romance story (the heroine is not terribly sympathetic - the horrors!), it's certainly memorable and my curiosity was peaked. I mean, how is the author going to resolve this happily? And, and the sex is hot but not "too hot." Somewhere between R-rated and NC-17. So a good recommendation for someone who wants to try a spicier book, but is on the fence.

The Bad: The stories are on the short side (less than 100 pages a piece) so there are details glossed over. For instance, exactly which royal family is exhibiting their jewelry in Nicole's museum? So don't expect a lot of depth here.

Final Verdict: I found this to be a fast, fun collection. Just the sort of thing to read while you're on vacation or if your attention span is zapped from all the holiday who-ha. Final Grade: B+ - I'd read Carr again.